JAPAN
Inflation rises 0.2%
Consumer prices rose 0.2 percent year-on-year last month, posting an increase for the third straight month on higher energy costs, official figures showed yesterday. The market had expected the core index, which excludes volatile food items, to show a 0.1 percent increase after a 0.2 percent rise in March. The increase stemmed mainly from higher electricity and gas prices, according to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
GERMANY
Consumers stay confident
A study shows that consumers remain cautiously confident in Europe’s largest economy despite uncertainty in the wider 17-nation eurozone. The GfK institute’s -forward-looking survey released yesterday showed consumer confidence at 5.7 points for next month, the same level as this month. The survey showed a drop in income expectations was offset by a rise in optimism about the future and willingness to buy. The nation’s economy grew by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of the year.
SPAIN
Bankia shares suspended
The market regulator has suspended trading in shares of bailed-out lender Bankia ahead of a bank board meeting that is expected to decide on the amount of money it needs from the government. The bank’s shares have plunged since it was nationalized earlier this month. Minister of Economy and Finance Luis de Guindos said on Wednesday the government would pump at least 9 billion euros (US$11 billion) into Bankia, but added that more would be available if needed. Bankia, the nation’s fourth-largest bank, has been the worst-hit with 32 billion euros in toxic assets as a result of the burst real-estate bubble.
MINING
Codelco CEO steps down
The chief executive officer of Codelco, the world’s biggest copper company, is stepping down. Chile’s state-owned firm said Diego Hernandez cited personal reasons for his resignation, which takes effect on Friday. He is being replaced by chief financial officer Thomas Keller. Chilean Minister of Mining Hernan de Solminihac said on Thursday that Hernandez’s resignation was not related to Codelco’s fight with the British mining company Anglo American PLC. Codelco is the majority owner of Anglo American Sur SA, a joint venture in Chile with the British company.
FINANCE
Goldman eyes renewables
Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs plans to invest US$40 billion in projects linked to renewable energy over the next decade, company spokesman Michael Duvally said on Thursday. Goldman, which has a team dedicated to investment in clean technologies and renewable energy, financed US$4.8 billion and co-invested more than US$500 million in the sector last year.
BANKING
Vatican Bank president fired
The president of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, has been ousted by the board of directors, the Vatican said on Thursday, blaming him for a deterioration in standards of governance. The board unanimously passed a no-confidence vote in Tedeschi for failing to carry out “various fundamentally important functions of his office,” the statement said. The bank has been in the spotlight since September 2010 when Italian investigators froze 23 million euros of its funds in Italian banks after opening an investigation into possible money-laundering.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last